America beckons with opportunity during the 1850s. Louisa Mueller, a baker’s daughter, arrives in Elm Ridge, Illinois with determination to learn English and work as a baker. Since the death of her sweetheart a year ago, she pushes aside thoughts of marriage. However, she’s intrigued by a fellow passenger who tells the most interesting stories. Desperate for a fresh start, a young thief takes the name Hans Hoffmann when a look-alike passenger dies during the trans-Atlantic passage. Vowing ...

Prepare for consequences when you love your neighbor. In 1851, Polly Black arrives in Elm Ridge, Illinois with little more than her sewing skills, her young son, and the persona of a widow. To preserve her reputation, she needs to tread lightly when a recent widower, a powerful man who knows she never married, courts her. A new shop opens across the way, and the owner’s friendly face is a welcome sight for both Polly and her son. Born and raised in a Pennsylvania Deutsch community, Kurt Ta...

Political skill is a characteristic that can facilitate good things for individuals and their organizations. Yes, it is possible that political skill can be used and to get away with self-serving acts at the expense of others, but contrary to the stereotypical perceptions of being political, political skill is about more than manipulation. In fact, political skill enables people to build trust and forge positive relationships, and leaders often need it to influence others and acce...

HVAC tech, Janet Zwingel has too much on her plate to clutter her life up with a man. Her daughter is engaged, and with a mortgage due each month, she has to maintain her job status quo. Police detective Rich Taylor lost his wife two years ago. His friends are urging him to date, but he's not interested. Well, not until he meets the intriguing woman who fixed his A/C. Just when he thinks anything is possible, life throws him and Janet a curve-ball. And a dead body could keep them from havi...

Two years ago I quit sugar and my life has never been better.There are loads of 'sugar free diet' books available right now, but precious few that give you a blow-by-blow account of what happens when you cut sugar from your diet. And believe me, LOTS happens!This is a personal story (cut through with some good information on going sugar free) about what happened to me, my body, my mood, my family when I started my sugar free diet.If you're consideri...

During a San Francisco visit, photographer Serena Carter sights arresting potential in the hotel bartender and invites him to model. Later, in San Diego, they meet at a beach, and she discovers his personality as fascinating as the images her camera captures. Self-made millionaire Zack Sans usually avoids cameras. He prefers the world of scientific laboratories and engineering students. But something intrigues him about the petite photographer. When realistic Serena accepts an opportunity ...

Beth Cosgrove keeps her private life private. Most people in the tiny community of Crystal Springs, Wisconsin know her as an accountant, dog breeder, and 4-H volunteer. Only her family is aware that her refusal to date is tied to her husband's disappearance three years ago.Attorney Jackson Dray changed jobs and moved across the state to lend a hand at his brother's apple orchard. While judging a 4-H dog show, he's intrigued by one of the project leaders.Rural life is not a si...

Tucking a weapon into a holster is part of getting dressed for Detective Maylee Morgan of the St. Louis Police. Her new assignment is the case of an unidentified body, and she soon discovers her new neighbor is more than a potential jogging partner. Surgeon Dave Holmes is optimistic about his future. He has a new job, a new apartment, and an immediate attraction to a woman running in the park. He intends to discover more than her beautiful legs and unusual name. Then his boss is murdered a...

First published in 1903, The Land of Little Rain is Mary Austin's classic homage to the American Southwest. Her collection of short stories and essays takes readers on an enchanted journey through Death Valley, the High Sierras, and the Mojave Desert. This first-ever audiobook edition is read by Emmy Award-winning actress, Ellen Parker, and received an Audiofile Earphones Award.Mary Hunter Austin (1868-1934) traveled extensively in the American Southwest. “Between...

Unlike anything Joyce Carol Oates has written before, A Widow’s Story is the universally acclaimed author’s poignant, intimate memoir about the unexpected death of Raymond Smith, her husband of forty-six years, and its wrenching, surprising aftermath. A recent recipient of National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, Oates, whose novels (Blonde, The Gravedigger’s Daughter, Little Bird of Heaven, etc.) rank among the very finest i...

A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the CenturyFrom one of our most powerful writers, a work of stunning frankness about losing a daughter. Richly textured with bits of her own childhood and married life with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, and daughter, Quintana Roo, this new book by Joan Didion examines her thoughts, fears, and doubts regarding having children, illness, and growing old.Blue Nights opens on July 26, 2010, as Didion ...

“Oates is just a fearless writer…with her brave heart and her impossibly lush and dead-on imaginative powers.”—Los Angeles Times“[An] extraordinarily intense, racking, and resonant novel.”—Booklist (starred review)One of the most acclaimed writers in the world today, the inimitable Joyce Carol Oates follows up her searing, New York Times bestselling memoir, A Widow’s Story, with an extraordinary new work of fiction. Mudw...